What are you looking for in the next generation of game consoles?

I’m speaking anecdotally here, but it seems that any improvements in graphics, resolution, or frame rates are only going to be incremental at this point: always slightly improving, but never again making the kinds of visually stunning leaps we saw from console to console in the 1990s and 2000s (VR being a possible exception?). With that being said, I keep asking myself: “what do I want from the next generation of game consoles?”

I’m no longer looking for games to blow me away with realism or vast landscapes, since they pretty much have been for some time. That feels like table stakes at this point, and in some ways, kind of old hat.

There are obvious areas for improvement like faster load times and more storage that would be nice-to-haves, but mostly, I’m looking for more versatility in how and where I can play my games.

The Switch feels like a good console to bring up here. Having used a Switch for over a year now, I absolutely love the portability it offers. Being able to undock the console and play the same saved game on an airplane or in a hotel is just awesome, and now I find that being tied to a specific television is kind of a drag.

Unfortunately the game catalogue on the Switch is a little weak, which leaves me yearning to take my Playstion games with me in the same way. But alas, I’m stuck waiting until I get home to fire up the loud, flickering, tethered black box if I want to play the latest God of War title.

So for me, the number one thing I’d love to see moving forward is Switch style portability. I’d be thrilled if PlayStation offered hardware that lets me play my games at home OR on the go.

Now that I'm a father, I find it more and more difficult to find time to play video games. Hopefully that changes when the kid (soon kids) gets older since I would love to turn it into some quality family time.

The Switch has given me the opportunity to play again with its portability. I'll forever be in love with it because of that. Sure there's the PS Vita and the Nintendo DS, but those are definitely handheld gaming system whereas the the Switch feels like a console hybrid. Because of that, I'm using it much more than I ever used the pure handhelds.

What I'm missing now is the immersive experience of playing on a big screen TV with surround sound. I'm not that interested in VR, but I am interested in how a VR-like headset can give me back the sense of immersion, without waking everybody up or hogging the TV. I'd like to see something like that happen, but without the extra rat's nest of wires, dongles, external sensors, etc.

I share your thoughts regarding VR. Im lukewarm on it. I don’t love the idea of being forced to move my entire body around to play a game. Most of the time I just want to sit down and use a regular controller.

But as long as the hardware isn’t obtrusive or bulky, I’d be open to VR as an enhancement for traditional games. From what I’ve read, VR exclusive games still feel gimmicky and don’t seem ready for prime time.

When the Switch first came out, there was speculation about its form factor being Nintendo's way into VR. I can kinda see that. Imagine sliding the two Joy-Cons out, and sliding the screen into a wearable. Much like Google's Daydream View:

I don’t have it but I think the newest Sony handheld does allow you to play some games on the go... my buddy Adam and I were playing world of final fantasy together... he would play on his hand held during travel and then I would sync my game to his save from my PS4.

But I’m guessing you mean all games should be able to be played on the go or system.

Adam would know better but basically world of final fantasy has a cross save feature... so we would play together on my PS4 and then when he was traveling or in an airport or even at home he would play the same cross save on his vita and level up all the guys in our party.

When I next logged in it would ask me if I wanted to use the most recent save on the one on the system.

the down side is he had to buy the game for the vita so you do need two copies... not sure if world of final fantasy was the only game like that. But I know he would use his phone’s hotspot to upload his save to the network and then I’d play during his flight etc....

I’m pretty easily satisfied when it comes to video games. As for “next-gen” consoles, I don’t need better graphics and honestly I don’t know what I want. To me I feel like they do almost everything I want already, with one exception, cross-platform play. After that, give me something I didn’t know I needed/wanted, and I think the Switch in particular does that. My desire is more for games that captivate me, the platform doesn’t matter necessarily.

As for the switch, I wanted it from the day the first trailer was announced, and my wife just just bought it about a month ago for my birthday. What it gives me is multiple ways to play: holding a controller in each hand with motion sensitivity, placing the controllers into a gamepad for a more “traditional” gameplay, playing several games like MarioKart with multiple people by splitting the controller in half (we only needed to buy one extra controller for 4 to play), and of course the ability to drop the controllers into the console itself, pick it up, and walk away playing.

The only thing I know I want that isn’t really out there is cross-platform play. I don’t think it’s a console limitation anymore though, but more game to game because Fortnite hits this nail right on the head. That’s the only game I know of that can play across PC, Xbox, PS, and now Switch. I’d love the ability to play more multiplayer games online with friends who prefer different consoles, so that we can enjoy the games together without one of us having to play it on a platform we don’t enjoy.

Great point about cross platform play! I haven’t played Fortnite (not a huge multiplayer gamer yet), but I’ve heard they do that well. As I get more into the multiplayer world, I’d like to be able to play with friends who have xbox, for instance.

For me, the trick to getting to play after the kids were born was a consistent, early bedtime. I also have a partner who is understanding of my love of games, even though she doesn't play (except sometimes when we *do* have family gaming time—which is amazing). So, a couple of nights a week, I play some Heroes of the Storm or Obduction or Assassin's Creed on the PC which is set up next to the couch where she watches a show or a movie.

I have the PS VR and I played through Resident Evil 7 a while back, it was a pretty amazing experience. Most other demos of games I've tried are pretty neat but didn't pull me in as much.The VR experience with RE7 was so cool, probably because of the horror setting and the photo-realistic graphics. It was the only game I've truly felt terrified playing at points since I've been a kid.

I really like horror movies so this was right up my alley. But at points it was too scary so I had to stop playing. I'd call my sister and her boyfriend over to join me so I could make progress without being too terrified.

Nintendo just announced a Labo VR kit, doing kinda what I described. Obviously it's not meant for serious VR gaming, but it's so fun to see how creative Nintendo is getting with the Labo kits.

Maybe not for the current generation of the Switch hardware, but I'm still convinced a serious version of this VR kit will eventually happen. It makes so much sense to be another "dock mode" for the already versatile console.